The Rise and Fall of Nini, the Chicken Little
The Rise and Fall of Nini, the Chicken Little
A closer look at Nestor Perez El Nini. Who was he? The ultimate betrayal
His name is Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas known as "El Nini," "Chicken Little" or "El 09." He is said to be the head of security for Los Chapitos by many trusted mainstream media sources, along with government officials and interviews of people close to him. But regardless, one thing is for sure, he is a high-ranking sicario for the Sinaloa cartel that led the first Culiacanazo that unleashed a wave of attacks in the streets of Culiacan and generated fierce confrontations with the Armed Forces. This attack culminated in the release of Ovidio Guzmán El Raton, the son of El Chapo, ordered released by the Mexican President himself, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). El Raton was finally caught in the second Culiacanaso on January 5, 2023 and extradited to the USA.
They say that in the Sinaloa Cartel they nicknamed him El Nini because when he suspected that someone wanted to harm his bosses, “ni preguntaba ni dejaba vivos” (he neither asked nor left them alive).
Dámaso López Serrano, "El Mini Lic" has gone out of his way to start a campaign against Los Chapitos on social media and in interviews. Mini lic, who is said to be in the witness protection program in the US, provided exclusive interviews to Luis Chaparro (a freelance journalist) and journalist Anabel Hernández García. Mini Lic is said to be the star witness against Los Chapitos if they are ever arrested and extradited to the US. According to Mini Lic, El Nini began murdering for fun at the age of 19 and rose through the ranks of the Sinaloa cartel. "What this blood thirsty sicario did to gain the approval from Los Chapitos was to murder poor people, workers, bricklayers, and even athletes. He slaughtered people to demonstrate his cold blood before Los Chapitos," this according to Anabel Hernández who interviewed Mini Lic. Anabel Hernández is a journalist for the newspaper El Universal and a published author
There was a burner Twitter account on X (formerly Twitter) by El Mini Lic where he alleged to clarify some of Nini's roles with Los Chapitos.
"El Nini was not head of security for Los Chapitos. Nini was actually the plaza boss of Culiacan, Sinaloa. He was in charge of carrying out executions ordered by Ivan. The real leader of the security of Los Chapitos is El Gavilan, who coordinates Los Chapito's escort. El Gavilan should be the ones who takes over the operations left by El Nini as plaza boss of Culiacan. The rumors that Los Chapitos are planning to get rid of Piyi and El Perris, who are the two members closest to Nini, is not true.
The truth is that Ivan turned over Nini to the Mexican government with the condition that the government kill Nini at the time of his capture. They were to make it look like a confrontation had occurred. Except, the military failed to follow the directions at the time Nini was captured. Ivan like his father, El Chapo, has turned over many of their leaders to the Mexican government. One example is Ivan turned over the leader of Los Chimalis, El Pancho Chimal, to be executed in September of 2016. Ivan also ordered the ambush of military forces to rescue El Kevin so that he did not talk. The body of El Kevin was later found in Novalto, Sinaloa."
Tony Montana
Los Chapitos had a lot of anger toward Tony Montana, because he had done so much against them. We are talking about Jesús Antonio Muñoz "Tony Montana" who was one of the most powerful and feared gunmen of Los Dámaso (Dámaso López Núñez "Licenciado" and his son Dámaso López Serrano “Mini Lic”). He had several topones (confrontations) with Los Chapitos. He created a futile war on behalf of Los Dámaso that surely, he would never win. After the fall of El Chapo in 2016, Los Chapitos began to claim ownerships of plazas in the state of Sinaloa. Among them was Villa Juárez, a strategic drug trafficking point located between Navolato and Culiacán. Except Villa Juárez was controlled by the powerful Montana under the command of Los Dámaso. Los Chapitos contested la plaza and attempted to take it from Los Dámaso.
Los Chapitos dispatched a cell known as Los Chimalis, to confront the forces of Montana. Los Chimalis was a commando of Francisco Javier Zazueta Rosales, "Pancho Chimal," who worked for Aureliano Guzmán Loera "El Guano," brother of El Chapo. This created an outright war, in numerous topones in the small agricultural town of Villa Juárez that spread fear among the people in the region. The battle between Los Dámasos and Los Chapitos set the plaza on fire. The power base of Los Chapitos and their uncle El Guano was being challenged by the current plaza boss, El Montana.
In 2017 Los Dámaso were running low of finances and resources. Montana resorted to committing kidnappings and extortions to finance the war. Except, luck was running out. In April of 2017 military forces were raiding houses to take out the remaining structure of Los Dámaso. Weeks later the infamous Licenciado would fall, being arrested and ultimately extradited to the US. At the front was left El Mini lic to take over the battle. But soon after, Mini Lic abandoned the futile war, leaving his people to the mercy of Los Chapitos. He turned himself over to US authorities.
What followed next were the executions of former Dámaso gunmen by Los Chapitos. The executions at the hands of Los Chapitos were relentless. El Nini aggressively pursued those abandoned by the Damaso without mercy. For Montana, his death sentence was imminent. Los Chapitos had warned Montana that he would not live past to 2019. They threatened Montana and his family. In December of 2018 sicarios of Los Chapitos kidnapped Montana's relatives. They sent Montana a chilling message, his life in exchanged for that of his family.
Montana surrendered to El Nini, by saying, "el pedo es conmigo no con ellos," (the shit is with me, not with them). El Montana was interrogated, recorded and executed by El Nini. His body was found on New Year's Eve, exactly on the morning of December 31, leaning on a pillar of the welcome arch to the municipality of Eldorado, a community located 18 miles south of Culiacan. He showed signs of torture in different parts of his body, especially on his face, which was bruised. His feet were tied with gray industrial-type tape that ended at his sandals. On each of them there were the letters M and Z carved with a knife (common initials for “Mayo Zambada”).
There is another event where El Nini was allegedly involved.
The ambush, recue and the killing of El Kevin
On September 30, 2016 a convoy of 17 military forces were escorting an ambulance that was transporting Julio Óscar Ortiz Vega, “El Kevin” from a hospital in Badiguarato to another hospital in Culiacan. El Kevin had previously sustained some injuries in Badiraguato during a confrontation with military forces. El Kevin belonged to a cell of the Sinaloa cartel, under the command of Aurelio Guzmán El Guano, brother of El Chapo. El Kevin was not considered part of the high command but knew a lot of the operations of the Sinaloa cartel. What the military escort did not know was that while they were escorting the ambulance, the eyes of the cartel that see and hear everything, was watching them.
The newspaper Reforma cited Army sources as saying that the municipal police of Culiacán, who are at the service of the Sinaloa Cartel, surveilled the military convoy. The municipal police had tapped the radios of the military and claimed to have not seen 60 sicarios in 15 armored trucks travelling in the open road, this despite there being video surveillance cameras in most of the streets. The 60 Sicarios onboard armored trucks and armed with 50 caliber Barrett machine guns and grenades attacked the military forces who were escorting Kevin. The military escort was caught by surprise during a dark sky and the sicarios easily overcame the military forces that were outnumbered and outgunned. 5 military soldiers were killed, while 10 were injured, including the ambulance driver.
Two military style Hummer vehicles were set on fire. El Kevin was taken out of the ambulance and taken away. The Attorney General's Office identified Francisco Javier Zazueta, El Pancho Chimal, as one of the perpetrators of the attack. El Pancho Chimal is the leader of the sicarios Los Chimalis, an armed wing of Los Chapitos. However, journalist Jorge Fernández Menéndez reported that Los Chapitos ordered El Nini to attack the military forces in order to prove his loyalty to them. He lays the blame at El Nini and not at Pancho Chimal. Los Ninis with 60 heavily armed sicarios attacked the smaller forces of only 17.
Later, the body of El Kevin was found in Novalto encobijado (wrapped in a blanket). The body showed signs of torture and gunshots, in addition to being in an advanced state of decomposition. El Kevin showed signs that at one time he was dragged. Los Chapitos had a vested interest in removing El Kevin so that he did not talk.
Tension brewing
Then, there was the tension between Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Los Chapitos. First was the trial of El Chapo. The son of Mayo Zambada, Vicente “Vicentillo” Zambada Niebla and Mayo's brother Reynaldo "El Rey" Zambada testified against El Chapo. That did not sit well with Los Chapitos. Then, on the first Culiacanaso, the faction of El Mayo, led by Juan Jose Ponce Felix “El Ruso,” refused to assist in the rescue attempt of Ovidio “El Raton” Guzman. This caused friction between Los Ninis and Los Rusos, that often resulted in gun battles in and around Culiacan. El Mayo finally intervened and sent Los Rusos to Mexicali, to avoid further conflict.
Nini falls, questions remain?
On November 22, 2023 El Nini was arrested in Culiacan, Sinaloa without a single shot being fired. He was obviously caught by surprise, he did not know it was coming. It was so sudden that his sicarios in Culiacan did not have time to react. In fact, he did not have any security detail with him when he was arrested. Were his people told to stand down by orders of Los Chapitos? It has been said that El Panu, personal body guard of Los Chapitos, personally ordered La Chapiza to stand down and allow the capture of El Nini. So much was the surprise by El Nini, that he ran to the roof top of the house in his underwear as the military forces were on top of him. His powerful group of sicarios were absent, there was no Culiacanaso for him. Military forces had been pursuing him for days, they hit numerous locations where he was known to have been staying, including one where they found his pet tigers.
Mini Lic shared the following information on his burner Twitter account on November 7, 2023 on the reason for Nini's arrest
"Information from the Sinaloa cartel. In recent days, a meeting was held between CDS leaders where Ivan, Alfredo and Joaquin Guzman were present along with Oscar Noe Medina, Jose Angel Cannobio and Kevin Gil to discuss the deprivation of life or surrender to the government of Nestor Isidro Perez Salas alias the NINI or the 19 head of hitmen of the chapitos faction, the order was given by IAGS, since they need to lower the pressure that the government has on them, the reason is that the Guzman brothers They gave the order to execute innocent people, including a minor under 13 years old, just for being relatives of an informant from a government agency. The event occurred on October 28 of this year in Tamazula, Durango, Mexico. The situation got out of control and the pressure from the government is too strong, which is why they chose to blame NINI and inform the government that he was the intellectual and material author of said event and to try to reach an agreement they negotiated to hand over the head of NINI. That's why lAGS passed on the location of the tigers of the disgraced hitman, which is a shame that they don't even care for their own people. Later we will have an episode on this topic but discussed in more depth with more details"
Due to the pressure the US had put on Mexico over the trafficking of Fentanyl to the US by Los Chapitos, Los Chapitos had changed strategy, to keep a low profile. They even banned the production of Fentanyl in Culiacan, or at least that is the perception they wanted to portrait. But Nini had been an out-of-control tiger that they could not tame. El Nini had been ignoring the instruction of his bosses, constantly heating up the plaza. He was always flaunting his wealth and power. Causing disturbances and killing people at will. Throwing parties and paying popular musical groups/singers to write and sing corridos of himself. It is rumored that Nini paid a lot of money to have the mega super star group Los Tucanes de Tijuana sing a corrido about him. This was hardly in keeping a low profile. The new song, El Comandante 09, premiered on YouTube on November 22, 2023, the same day El Nini was arrested.
The corrido El Comandante 09 performed by Los Tacnes de Tijuana.
Who will take over the operation left by El Nini? Word on the streets is that Los Chapitos have selected their new security chief as Oscar Noe Medina Gonzalez, "El Panu." He has connections to the Tapia family of the Golden Triangle, who have been trafficking drugs for Sinaloa for years. Regardless of who is arrested, be assured that in Sinaloa it will remain business as usual.
A music video by Peso Pluma and Raúl Vega called El Belicon. The song is about El Nini and it is said to have been filmed at Nini’s home.